The sun rose on Pier 45 two days after crab season began and boats big and small were still in the harbor. The Jennie Rose, down from Ft. Bragg, was stacked high with crab pots but Captain Steve said he wouldn’t lay pots until crab buyers got off $1.75 and agreed to $2.50 a pound. He pointed at a wharf store selling crab for $12.95 per pound.
San Francisco’s waterfront has long seen economic struggles by fisherpeople, longshoremen and warehousemen. On May 15, 1934, port workers shutdown the West Coast for the first time in history. Two dock workers lost their lives on “Bloody Thursday” July 5th and on July 17, 1934 San Francisco fell silent as 127,000 citizens joined the general strike that made San Francisco a union town.
At the end of the 19th century and into the 20th, San Francisco’s independent fisherpeople organized themselves to protect their livelihoods against the “Fish Trust” comprised of the big fish distributors. A protracted struggle resulted in the Crab Fishermen’s Protective Association beating the buy-low, sell-high middlemen. One week later, Captain Steve and the fleet sailed at $2.25 per pound.